


Outcast

by Puffinpastry



Category: Dragon Quest XI
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, First Meetings, Gen, Luminary is named Eli, M/M, No Spoilers, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:06:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24594265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Puffinpastry/pseuds/Puffinpastry
Summary: When you meet someone just as alone as you are, wouldn't it make sense to stick together?In the middle of a blizzard, Erik and Eli meet by chance, and it may just be the start of all that they're waiting for.
Relationships: Camus | Erik/Hero | Luminary (Dragon Quest XI)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 37





	Outcast

**Author's Note:**

> A couple of months ago I got a prompt on Tumblr for a mythological AU, and the idea never left me alone... So now I've got this.

A deep grey wolf stumbled through the blizzard, each step a chore.

If only the light around him had been that of the moon, the creature would almost have looked blue, save for the fur at the end of his tail, on his front left paw, and the intricate markings along his face and back.

Even with the night-sight and the thick winter coat his wolven form provided, the cold still pierced through to his bones, and the white fog the snow made as it covered every last surface of the forest stopped Erik from being able to make any real progress.

It was still  _ September _ , for the Goddess’s sake!

Whatever spirits or sprites decided  _ now  _ was a good time for a blizzard, Erik didn’t care to know.

He wasn’t prepared for an early winter.

He didn’t have anywhere he could go, yet. Found no caves or old burrows he could huddle in, and he was the  _ last  _ werewolf any regular ones would let run with them.

If Erik froze to death, he’d never hear the end of it.

A flash of green caught his eye.

And not the dark green of the pines, but something brighter. Something that he only saw in the height of spring.

He would have dismissed it as a hallucination if he didn’t catch it again.

And again.

Until-

It came fully into view.

Dead ahead, sheltered in a copse of trees, was a little slice of springtime.

The grass grew green, the ground clear of snow. The leaves on the trees were in full bloom, and flowers sprouted bright and fragrant from the soil. 

An almost-perfect red poppy had been plucked from the bunch and was being held by the creature standing in the middle of the grove, plucking petal after petal, each one fluttering to the soil, evaporating before it stayed too long.

Erik’s eyes drifted from the flower to the creature.

A cervitaur.

Warm brown fur covered the deer body, a darker stripe along the spine, and stretching like stockings up from his hooves, but no white spots remained on his haunches.

From behind a curtain of mousy brown hair, a pair of blue eyes watched him critically.

But the deer made no move to run and made no effort to attack.

For reasons that should surely be obvious, their kinds do not mix.

Their bases human or not, it still paid to be cautious. Prey did not run with predators. 

But this cervitaur wasn’t normal, Erik could tell from a single glance, and surely, this cervitaur could tell the same for him. 

What point was there in following rules when you’d left yours behind ages ago?

Erik crossed the barrier between ice and grass and fell still as the warmth of spring surrounded him. 

His wolf form vanished as he sunk to the earth, so much more comfortable in human form. Earth magic. Erik wouldn’t mind having some of that, himself. 

Natural magic was always so much easier to be around than the nearly artificial kind he was more used to.

But comfortable warmth or not, Erik isn’t exactly  _ welcome _ , though he isn’t rejected, either. 

The air is tense, and when he speaks, the cervitaur hardly sounds comfortable. “The sprites are real worked up about something. I didn’t see this start, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it lasts all night.”

Unsure of how to respond, Erik shrugs. “One way or another doesn’t matter. You fine with me hanging around until it clears up a bit?”

“You’re on your own?” He asks in return, “Or are there more of you coming?”

“I’m alone,” Erik says. “No other werewolves in this neck of the woods. Any more deer around?”

“Then you can stay. And- it's just me.” He says, and once again, is quiet.

The snow continues on around them. 

“Where’s your pack?” The deer-man asks, settling to the earth beside Erik, carefully tucking his forelegs beneath him. And, well… If  _ he  _ was alright getting comfortable… “Werewolves aren’t typically loners, are they?” 

First off,  _ rude _ . Whose business was it of his for Erik to spill his guts? Leaning back on his hands, Erik glanced at the deer from the corner of his eye. “I know for a fact that your lot stick pretty tight to your herds. What’s Bambi doing out on his lonesome?” Erik kept his expression careful as the cervitaur’s eye twitched at the nickname. Unusual weather or not, this was the middle of the fall season, and if Erik wanted to keep this nice comfy spot to rest through the storm, then he needed to watch his mouth. 

Even so… it was almost funny to see the deer trying to look intimidating. Erik had been on the wrong side of plenty of bucks, (regular ones, mind you,) and he knew they weren’t anything to be underestimated. But this one… 

Even with eight-points, freshly shed of their velvet, angry eyes and a scrunched nose covered in freckles wasn’t anything other than cute. “Don’t call me that,” he said in a no-nonsense tone, but his voice evened back out as he continued on. “My name is Eli.”

Erik turned fully to face the deer. Eli. Was he stupid or just that trusting? To give away his name that freely - didn’t he know the power behind that? 

“And I’m not with any herd,” Eli said, staring off into the blustering snows. “I made a mistake. I spoke when I shouldn’t have. Challenged the wrong buck. I wasn’t welcome, after that.”

Erik didn’t know too much about cervitaurs. A private bunch, sticking to their own territory, seldom ever coming into contact with any of the other creatures of the night.

But he knew of the stories.

Knew that they were unified in their family groups. Knew of the magic they carried with them, knew that the few who met them often left with the impression that they were all self-important jerks.

Werewolves were more open.

Werewolves lived in mixed packs, picking up new ones where they did, leaving behind others when they chose to leave. Their own magic was nothing like the cervitaur’s blessing, but a blood curse. But that often brought them together, made them gentle.

It was only his own experiences that made Erik this way.

But sometimes, that old warmth from his pack still managed to shine through.

“I’m not with my pack anymore,” Erik said, finding himself relaxing easier with this stranger than anyone else he’d met on his solo journey. “Made a mistake. Didn’t listen when I should have, paid the price. Been on my own ever since.”

Exiled, the both of them.

Of all the things that could make the air less tense… 

Well, it had to be something.

“Where are you headed, if you don’t mind saying?” Erik asked, “If you’re heading somewhere specific, I might could point you in the right direction.”

“I don’t know where I’m going,” Eli says. “I’m looking for my family, and I don’t know where to find them. I’m just wandering.” The poppy was naught but a stem, now. Eli dropped it, and by the time the grass had settled around it, there wasn’t even dust left. 

Wandering.

Erik knew the feeling. 

He  _ also  _ knew better than to get involved in the affairs of others, but there was  _ something  _ about this deer that just didn’t make sense.

Something that made Erik feel at ease. “I thought your lot’s herds were your family?”

“I thought they would be,” Eli said, low. “But even if I wanted them to be, they didn’t know me. It didn’t take much for them to make me leave.”

That… Didn’t clear anything up. Had he  _ moved  _ herds? Why would he do that? If Erik had a place he belonged like that, he wouldn’t ever try to leave.

Though…

He did, once. Didn’t he?

And he was still here, alone in the cold. 

“I’m looking for my family, too.” He said. “Which way are you walking?”

“I was headed south,” Eli answered. “Towards the Falls.”

The  _ Falls _ ? As in - full of Faeries and Pixies and all sorts of magical  _ sell-your-firstborn _ kinds? 

The deer was headed for the actual  _ edge of their world _ but said it as if he was just headed around the block.

Well. It wasn’t any of Erik’s business. But… “You mind company?” Even if he only stuck with him a part of the way, the winter would be easier, and in more ways than one. It’d been a long time since Erik had any kind of company, and as nice as they tended to be, regular wolves just didn’t have all that much to say. Honestly, the little bubble of spring that Eli seemed to be able to create would only be the cherry on top. 

Eli regarded him carefully. “Why?”

“It’s hard out on your own,” Erik said, fully aware from the scar over Eli’s cheek that he probably knew that. Knew that his own said the same. “It’ll be good to have someone to watch my back. Just for the winter.”

“You want a  _ deer  _ to fight for you?” Eli’s mouth upturned at the end in the slightest smile. He thought Erik was joking, did he?

“Don’t knock deer.” Erik said back, “I’ve seen what their fights look like. And I didn’t say fight for me. This forest is rough. We’d look out for each other. Partners.”

“It would be useful to have another set of eyes,” Eli said after a moment. “Just for the winter?” He offered a hand to shake.

Not a  _ true  _ deal, but Erik wasn’t ever making another of those, anyhow. “For the winter.” He agreed and took Eli’s hand in his own. “Name’s Erik, by the way.”

“Erik, then.” Eli said, “It’s nice to meet you.”


End file.
